Suchergebnisse

By the end of the 1970s, contaminated sites had emerged as one of the most complex and urgent environmental issues affecting industrialized countries. The authors show that small and prosperous Switzerland is no exception to the pervasive problem of sites contamination, the legacy of past practices in waste management having left some 38,000 contaminated sites throughout the country. This book outlines the problem, offering evidence that open and polycentric environmental decision-making that includes civil society actors is valuable. They propose an understanding of environmental management of contaminated sites as a political process in which institutions frame interactions between strategic actors pursuing sometimes conflicting interests.In the opening chapter, the authors describe the influences of politics and the power relationships between actors involved in decision-making in contaminated sites management, which they term a 'wicked problem.' Chapter Two offers a theoretical framework for understanding institutions and the environmental management of contaminated sites. The next five chapters present a detailed case study on environmental management and contaminated sites in Switzerland, focused on the Bonfol Chemical Landfill. The study and analysis covers the establishment of the landfill under the first generation of environmental regulations, its closure and early remediation efforts, and the gambling on the remediation objectives, methods and funding in the first decade of the 21st Century.The concluding chapter discusses the question of whether the strength of environmental regulations, and the type of interactions between public, private, and civil society actors can explain the environmental choices in contaminated sites management. Drawing lessons from research, the authors debate the value of institutional flexibility for dealing with environmental issues such as contaminated sites.

I consider a model of multiple winner elections with several types of spoilers. In single-office elections, a "classic" spoiler turns a winner into a non-winner and a non-winner into a winner. Such spoilers rarely appear in multi-office elections. In such elections, spoilers include a "Kingmaker", who turns a non-winner into a winner; a "Kingslayer", who turns a winner into a non-winner; a "Valuegobbler", who subtracts from some competitor more seats than it receives; and "Selfspoilers", who may be hurt by competing separately rather than creating an electoral coalition. Various strategic spoilers, such as fake parties, are possible as well. I look for spoilers in eight Polish parliamentary elections that have taken place since the fall of communism in 1989. In two elections, the consequences of spoilers were massive. In 1993, multiple spoilers on the right helped the two post-communist parties return to power, slow down decommunization and create strong institutional obstacles to further democratization. In 2015, a spoiler manufactured a majority for the largest party (PiS) and, as a consequence, enabled PiS quickly to implement radical reforms. In other elections, spoilers had smaller, but noticeable consequences. The results suggest that parliamentary elections using PR party-list systems are vulnerable to spoiler problems that may cause significant political effects.

Motivated by concerns posed by college athletics and questions about the effectiveness of educational reform commissions, this study centered on two questions: specifically, How did the Knight Commission function to bring policy reform to college sports?; and, generally, How does an independent, temporary commission influence organizational change? Grounded in the reform commission literature and a conceptual framework developed from political science, policy science, and organizational change theories, the research design employed two approaches - one inductive and one deductive - to focus on five areas of inquiry. Political processes were pivotal in bringing change. A "policy window" developed from the confluence of new, supportive key actors, public opinion favorable to reform, and threats of Congressional intervention. The Commission's empowerment created a choice opportunity for long-involved stakeholders to reauthorize athletic governance reform. Prior to empowerment, key actors reached consensus on core values and reform approach. The Knight Commission's operation enhanced the authority of key actors with standing as policy makers. Although intellectual undertakings supported an image of objective rationality, the Commission served more as an inter-organizational governance tool. Cross-fertilization" resulting from Commissioners who served as "linking pins" (Likert, 1967) between political systems, united a broad coalition on a single plan. A reform model that buttressed higher education values and was embedded in long-accepted principles of governance manipulated the "policy space" in athletics to focus debate on its issues. Other Commission activities served to enhance its "subjective authority" (Barnard, 1938) - acceptance at the bottom of the organization. The study process utilized "partisan policy analysis" (Lindblom, 1968) to persuade operational-level stakeholders. The report recommendations advanced the largest perceived increment of policy change that would not threaten its "acceptance." The extensive publicity surrounding report release served to inform and prepare the bottom layer of involved organizations and the public for change suggested by a representative group of eminent policy leaders. With enhanced authority and concordance on reform agenda, cross-boundary members successfully initiated policy reform. The still-intact Knight Commission supported internal policy makers and became accepted as a legitimate provider of policy influence. ; Ph. D.

Стаття присвячена дослідженню сучасних проблем трудової міграції, можливостям упередження міграційних втрат ринкової кон'юнктури в системі цілереалізуючих факторів інтеграційного поступу суспільства. Наголошується на необхідності досягнення соціальних стандартів, умов трудової діяльності, динаміки основних параметрів демовідтворення, зіставних з відповідними показниками економічно розвинених країн. Аналізуються результати соціологічного дослідження стосовно визначення як позитивних очікувань, так і ризиків від економічної інтеграції держави у міжнародні структури з фокусуванням уваги експертів на сфери міграції, зайнятості та соціально-трудових відносин в цілому. The aim of the paper is justification the features solving migration problems in Ukraine compared to the potential benefits and risks of actualization of target-realizing factors its integration direction in the conditions of the growth of globalization challenges. The system of factors that determine the target functional of the integration vector development of Ukraine choice is highlights. They have to act, especially: system of social standards of the states, level of their development, that are reflected in a state of social and economic security of individuals and people who are in their territory with the status of migrant, citizen of another country, stateless or refugee et al.; living conditions population with an emphasis on level of its legal culture and corruption expressions, the existing social capital of society; the state of social infrastructure, particularly education, culture , trade, transport, communications and so on; trends of development of main parameters population demographic reproduction on the comparative period; employment level and qualitative features of labor organization; effectiveness of development labor potential of the economically active population; the effective of functioning the public administration, strategic vision for the further development of the migration countries, its sectoral structure with the dominance of information technologies, other advanced economic activities; monitoring of institutional contradictions of worldview, values, historic-mental nature. The common problems of labor migration as well as migration loss prevention capabilities in market conditions in the system of integration progress of society is investigates. It is emphasized on the need for achieving social standards, conditions of labor activity and dynamics of the main parameters of demographic reproduction, comparable with corresponding trends of the developed countries. The results of sociological research relating to the definition as positive expectations, and the risks of economic integration of the state in international organizations with a focus of attention of experts on the field of migration, employment and social and labor relations in general are analyzed. The point of view that state migration system in Ukraine should be based on an organic combination of elements of the following forms of support: legislation (existing domestic and international legal acts), institutional (control subjects), information (information database and links), and also on the use of organizational-program levers and financial-economic structure is substantiated.

How and under what conditions does the European Union (EU) shape processes of institution building in other regional organizations? Interorganizational Diffusion in International Relations: Regional Institutions and the Role of the European Union develops and tests a theory of interorganizational diffusion in international relations that explains how successful pioneer organizations shape institutional choices in other organizations by affecting the institutional preferences and bargaining strategies of national governments. The author argues that Europe's foremost regional organization systematically affects institution building abroad, but that such influence varies across different types of organizations. Mixing quantitative and qualitative methods, it shows how the EU institutionally strengthens regional organizations through active engagement and by building its own institutions at home. Yet, the contractual nature of other regional organizations bounds this causal influence; EU influence makes a distinguishable difference primarily in those organizations that, like the EU itself, rest on an open-ended contract. Evidence for these claims is drawn from the statistical analysis of a dataset on the institutionalization of 35 regional organizations in the period from 1950 to 2017 as well as detailed single and comparative case studies on institutional creation and change in the Southern African Development Community, Mercosur, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Drawing on field-based data and experiences from the practice of democratic decentralization and local governance over the last three decades in Ghana, this book examines whether and how democratic decentralization and local governance reforms in developing countries have produced the anticipated development outcomes. In seventeen related contributions, the authors present four relevant focal themes, including conceptual and historical trajectories of decentralization and local governance; institutional choice, democratic representation, and poverty reduction; local governance, resource capacity, and service delivery; and non-state actors, local governance and sustainable development. The book blends perspectives of scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers to provide a holistic analysis of linkages between decentralization, local governance, and sustainable development efforts, presenting a novel and useful guide for science, policy, and practice of bottom-up governance and development. It provides relevant lessons and experiences for scholars, policy-makers, and development practitioners in Africa in particular and developing countries in general.

We develop a theory of democratization that integrates both electoral calculations and economic incentives to explain the institutional choices of political actors. Left-leaning (liberal) politicians, who, given their location in the policy space, are more likely to receive the support of newly enfranchised voters, favor a broader franchise than conservative ones. Their preferences are conditional on the distributional effects of the franchise: when inequality is higher, policymakers are more reluctant to expand it because it is harder to reconcile the policy demands of existing and new voters. We evaluate this theory by estimating the franchise preferences of British MPs based on their votes on franchise-related parliamentary divisions between 1830 and 1918, and linking these preferences to their personal and constituency characteristics. Our results, which are consistent with our theory, show that declining inequality and the First World War were crucial factors in the democratization of Britain in this period.

Trust is important to the institutions that make societies successful. Globally, Indigenous peoples are actively building institutions for self‐governance, but there remains little empirical work on trust in this context. To address this gap, we use a mixed methods approach to explore three levels of trust among individual members from three related, but politically distinct First Nations (Indigenous peoples) in British Columbia, Canada. British Columbia offers a unique and dynamic context to explore trust and its relationship with the diverse institutional choices among First Nations. Survey results show that trust is low among respondents and individual variables predictive of trust in mainstream contexts, like education and employment, are not determinative. However, interpersonal trust and political trust were highest in the First Nation most active in institution building, and who linked this with a cultural revitalization narrative. Interviews suggested a bidirectional relationship between individual and collective drivers of trust in this context.

AbstractThis introduction sets the stage for a special issue devoted to evaluating the contribution and continued relevance of Liberal Intergovernmentalism (LI) – a theory first formulated 25 years ago in this journal – in today's politicized and crisis‐ridden European Union (EU). We review the debates prompted by LI's three core claims about national preference formation, intergovernmental bargaining and institutional choice, as well as by the theory's three policy‐relevant corollaries relating to the EU's democratic deficit, its constitutional settlement and its role in the world. Liberal intergovernmentalism, we argue, remains highly relevant in today's EU, offering important insights and serving to structure much of the academic debate about the prospects of the Union in a time of crisis. Nevertheless, a revitalized LI faces the dual challenges of theorizing both the causes and consequences of mass politicization of EU politics, as well as the prospect of endogenous change in the direction of greater integration or disintegration.

Consequentialist concerns are altogether absent from the strictest strand of libertarianism. It is only natural to wonder whether the appeal of this moral position would be the same if markets were to fail as frequently as their critics claim. The utilitarian strand's consequentialist concerns are, in contrast, too ubiquitous. The novel research program of 'bleeding heart libertarianism' is best understood as addressing these alleged deficiencies of the classical liberal tradition. John Tomasi's Free Market Fairness (2012) can be thought of as the most sophisticated formulation to date of the bleeding heart libertarian project. In this paper, the author focuses on what he takes to be Tomasi's most important positive contribution: his reformulation of John Rawls' conception of justice along free-market lines. He argues that Tomasi's most fundamental bleeding heart libertarian insights are not adequately served by Rawls's lexical framework and idealized theory of institutional choice. Adapted from the source document.

One of the most exciting developments in Canadian federalism has been the emergence of Aboriginal self-governing regions. This paper constructs a theoretical framework for exploring the evolution of intra-jurisdictional relations in the self-governing Inuit regions of the Canadian Arctic. Intra-jurisdictional relations in these regions are characterized by a unique set of relationships between elected governments and organizations that represent the beneficiaries of land-claims agreements. Using the literature on historical institutionalism, we argue that the nature of Inuit intra-jurisdictional relations following the establishment of self-government can be explained by the institutional choices made prior to the signing of land-claims agreements and/or self-government agreements. To illustrate the potential of our framework for analysing Inuit intra-jurisdictional relations, we briefly examine the experiences of Nunavut, an Inuit-dominated region and the newest territory in the Canadian federation. Adapted from the source document.

At first sight, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) seems to be a least likely candidate for a regional organization (RO) prescribing and promoting (good) governance in its member states: It consists of authoritarian monarchies and is a strong proponent of the principles of national sovereignty and non- interference. This paper, however, shows that the GCC does engage in governance transfer. Reacting to a crisis of legitimacy, the rulers of the GCC states have resorted to governance transfer as a strategy of legit-imation. In certain policy fields they prescribe and promote good governance standards to suggest to their respective citizenry as well as to external investors that they are actively trying to tackle their governance problems in these fields. Governance transfer by the GCC can be conceptualized as an institutional choice by the rulers of the GCC states which is supposed to ensure their regimes' survival in times of a crisis of legiti-macy.